Wales hosts Scotland at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium and should be favorite to start with a victory, based on some impressive World Cup performances and a strong showing by Welsh clubs in European competition.
Steve Hansen's team led England 10-3 at halftime of its World Cup quarterfinal in Brisbane only to lose 28-17. It had the All Blacks in trouble at 34-28 in a group game before losing 53-37 in Sydney.
"I do not think we were too far away from winning either against New Zealand or against England," said Hansen, who has opted to keep back row Colin Charvis as captain even though he now plays French division two rugby with Tarbes.
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"We have to be more accurate in our play, not give away so many penalties and get over the line more.
"But I am confident that, if we work hard and keep our feet on the ground, we will achieve good results."
Speedy and elusive winger Shane Williams was one of the eye-catching newcomers of the World Cup and New Zealand center Sonny Parker, Mark Taylor and former rugby league star Iestyn Harris are available in an impressive back line.
The Scots have had a clear-out on and off the field with Matt Williams taking over from veteran Ian McGeechan as coach and stars such as Gregor Townsend, Bryan Redpath and Kenny Logan no longer around.
While hoping to start with a victory over the Welsh, Williams has told his young newcomers not to lose heart if they suffer heavy defeats to the English and the French.
"They will fail and we have to allow that to happen, we can't discard them, we have to re-educate them and bring them forward," Williams said.
"We're not like [soccer club] Chelsea where we just buy players in, we've got to make what we've got better.
"If we were talking about England or the All Blacks, you wouldn't suggest there was an 18-month period of rebuilding there. They are a long way into a five-year process where they have very solid structures."
Although Italy came away from the World Cup with two victories -- over Canada and Tonga -- John Kirwan's team starts the Six Nations against England and France and is playing down talk of beating the powerhouse teams.
All he wants is to win a Six Nations match away from the Stadio Flaminio.
"I want to see an improvement this season," said New Zealand-born coach Kirwan, whose team has beaten Scotland and Wales at home since joining the championship in 2000. ``We need to win at least one game, and we also need to start winning away.
"We were disappointed with our World Cup campaign. Our intention was to make the top eight in that tournament, and we were all disappointed that we didn't."
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